Bureau Veritas Partners With Advantech to Obtain Its First NEBS Certification

1/11/2017

Successful compliance testing of Advantech SKY carrier grade servers pavesthe way for Taiwanese manufacturers to expand their footprint into the North American telecom market

11 Jan., 2017, Taiwan – Bureau Veritas has announced that it has partnered with Advantech successfully to obtain its first Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) certificate for the US market. Bureau Veritas, a Verizon Authorized Test Lab for NEBS, is a global leader in testing & certification of consumer and technology products whilst Advantech is a leading player in network computing platforms.

Equipment used in telecommunications networks is increasingly being transformed into Network Function Virtualization (NFV) infrastructure running on standard computer server technology. Adhering to standards and requirements such as NEBS for the North American market is essential for suppliers competing in this new, fast evolving market. NFV offers the potential of massive infrastructure economies to Communication Service Providers (CSPs) and is triggering an upswing in demand for NEBS-compliant servers needed in brownfield telecom central office environments as well as locations closer to users and devices at the edge of the network.

In response to growing demand for NFV NEBS-certified computing platforms, Advantech recently developed its new SKY-8000 server product line, targeting the market for mid and high-end carrier grade servers, designed for reliability, availability, maintainability and safety.

“The transformation of specialized equipment into a fabric of servers, switches, storage, and I/O running open source software opens up new opportunities for equipment manufacturers developing NEBS-certified products for the telecommunications market.” said Ween Niu, General Manager, Advantech Networks and Communications Group. “Close cooperation between Advantech’s Taipei design teams and the Bureau Veritas lab not only streamlines the whole certification process, but it helps pass on important cost and time-to-market advantages to our telecom customers”.

“Bureau Veritas CPS E&E Taiwan is the only Verizon GR-1089 approved third party lab in Asia,” said Mr. Tarik Mahammed, Vice President of the Electrical & Electronic Business Line in Asia for Bureau Veritas Consumer Products Services Division. ”As a leading NEBS testing service provider, our skilled engineers deliver customer-aligned solutions addressing all the risks with today’s challenging environment. During our partnership with Advantech we reached a common understanding that we will collaborate further to support the Taiwan industry enabling locally designed and developed network equipment to reach not just the North American market, but global markets."

The total NEBS test solution covers EMC, safety and environmental testing. To verify the stability of equipment installed in a carrier’s network, environmental testing is a critical component of NEBS. Unlike traditional safety standards, NEBS standards covers the personal safety of the equipment operator and service technician, and protects the network facilities to verify the integrity and stability of the overall telecommunications network. Today NEBS is widely accepted by the major telecom carriers across the United States.

“Advantech has been manufacturing network computing platforms in CPCI, ATCA and server form factors designed to meet NEBS standards for over 10 years. We have always worked closely with our Telecom Equipment Manufacturer customers during their NEBS certification process.” said Betty Yang, Product Manager, Advantech Network Infrastructure Division. “With the advent of NFV, many of our customers are now partnering with us and rely on Advantech to undertake the NEBS certification process for them”.

Jim Chiu, Sales Manager, Electrical & Electronic Business Line Taiwan of Bureau Veritas CPS stated, “At the start of a project such as this, we always provide market access / technical insight to customers concerning the essential testing requirements for them to take into account. In this case, the EMC testing stipulated by NEBS is different to general EMC testing with products going through more specific EMC testing. We worked closely with Advantech’s engineering teams at the commencement of this project meaning they took this into account during the product R&D phase and avoided non-compliances and project delays.”

About NEBS

NEBS is an industry standard established by the telecommunication carriers in USA. It has become an essential criteria for them when purchasing telecom equipment destined for central offices, specific outside plant applications and in certain cases for customer premises equipment. NEBS-certified equipment demonstrates a quality and reliability assurance to meet strict network operability and safety requirements.

About Bureau Veritas

Bureau Veritas is a world leader in conformity assessment and certification services. Founded in 1828, the group has 68,800 employees in more than 1400 offices and laboratories. Bureau Veritas helps its clients to improve their performances by offering innovative services and solutions in order to ensure that their products, infrastructure and processes meet standards and regulations in terms of quality, health and safety, environment protection and social responsibility. Website: www.bureauveritas.com